If the stakes weren't high in any case for an Anglo-Irish sporting set-to, the need to avoid a second successive defeat before the World Cup kicks off upped the ante, on top of which Joe Schmidt predictably followed Stuart Lancaster in naming a fairly full-on side for tomorrow's final preparatory meeting for both countries at Twickenham.
For sure, the pressure to win is possibly more acute on Lancaster and England, as the home side and World Cup hosts who kick off the tournament against Fiji at the same venue 13 days later. And Schmidt is grateful for the additional elbow room this may afford him, in targeting performance over the result.
“I think there’s a premium on performance, getting individuals ready,” he said yesterday at Carton House. “I guess with the World Cup, you always want to get the result – these players are too competitive not to want to get the result. But if we didn’t get the result, but there were a few building blocks we’ve put in place and a few things we did maybe a little bit better than last week, we’d come away feeling there’s work to be done. But we’re keen to get working again and build our way through the World Cup.”
In this, Schmidt appears to have a little more elbow room too, given their group schedule of Canada, Romania, Italy and the likely decider against France in that order. By contrast, after Fiji, England pitch up against Wales and then Australia before their final game against Uruguay.
“I think we’ve got to hit the ground running against Canada,” said Schmidt, “but we’ve got to build game to game because I don’t think anyone’s kidding themselves that the game at the end of the pool is going to be tougher based on where they’re ranked and what they’ve done in preparation for this World Cup, and what they’ve done in previous World Cups.”
Minimum requirement
Even so, a good performance appears to be the minimum requirement for what promises to be a full-on affair. “It’s ironic that people are calling it a warm-up game for the World Cup,” noted Schmidt. “I don’t think you ever go to Twickenham for a warm-up game. I think it’s very much a hot-bed from the start. I’ve no doubt that they’re looking to rebound as we will be.”
“We felt probably a little bit unlucky last week and lot of what we did put us in good field position to probably do a little bit better than what we did.”
“We’ve just got to make sure that we finish a few things this week. But there’s no tougher team to break down defensively than the English.
"They are very, very good defensively. They put a lot of pressure on you when you have the ball," said Schmidt, who also cited the speed and footwork of Anthony Watson and co in their outside three.
The one surprise in an otherwise anticipated selection is that of Simon Zebo starting his second "warm-up" game at fullback, with Dave Kearney on the wing. It transpired Rob Kearney has suffered a bruised knee, but wasn't risked even though he finished training. Hence, with last week's casualties Keith Earls and Luke Fitzgerald, also not being risked, Darren Cave is on the bench.
Of Zebo’s current status, Schmidt said: “I think he’s versatile enough to be called a wing/fullback and I think there are a lot of players in our squad who can play fullback.”
In this, he cited Jared Payne, Robbie Henshaw, Dave Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald. "But with Simon, I think he's got a very good kicking game, I think his ability to read the game is pretty good so defensively he's really . . . he's making strides. He got caught a little bit outside the ball when Peter Horne scored for Scotland and he's working on making sure that his tracking of the ball and his entry into the edge of the backline is nailed on because it's going to have to be, with Johnny May, Mike Brown and Anthony Watson out there."
The problem for Zebo is that in cementing his place as back-up fullback, he could miss out on his most natural left-wing place, especially if Kearney has a belter tomorrow.
Fluent game
The pack is effectively the first-choice pack for most of the Six Nations, along with the halves and midfield, as Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne are re-united for what will still be only their seventh game in harness. As expected Healy has not made the cut, so
Tadhg Furlong
will cover loosehead off the bench.
In any event, having again questioned some of Craig Joubert's decisions last week at length, Schmidt is hopeful of a more fluent game, not only with Nigel Owens in charge but given the commitment of both Ireland and England to keep scrums square and upright, so as to play off them. Both coaching tickets were complimentary of their opponents in this regard after the last two Six Nations' meetings.
“Yeah absolutely. You have a look at the last two years and the scrums have been good . . . it’s great to play a positive team and a team that genuinely go out to play and that back their scrum . . .”
“I think like any scrum that’s scrum is square, they can be a little bit vulnerable to teams that do hinge and angle, but I think they’ll enjoy playing against us because they’ll know that we stay up and we’ll stay square.”
